The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1887-05-21

If we depart on either side we find our
selves involved and entangled in assump-
tons that lead to the inequality of men,
and open the way to sorrow and evil by
the admission of the doctrine of the sur
vival of the fittest, and the consequent de-
struction of the unfittest, as a practical
rule of life. The brotherhood alone
guards the helpless, relieves the perish
ing and surrounds the innocent with the
triple sanctions of virtue. Taken by it
self and contrasted with all other schemes
and conceptions of mems relations to each
other, it appears clearly to be the great
est doctrine, the most far-reaching in its
results, and the most inspiring in its in
huence that has ever been proposed to
the human mind.
III. Logically bound up in with the
doctrine of the fatherhood is also the doc
trine of the Immortality of man. Jesus
beholds the human family tarrying for a
time in these mortal relations and then
passing over to dwell forever in the eter.
nal house of God. Our experiences,
Swallowed by trouble and care as they
may be, are yet overbrooded by divine
love and lead to a higher and grand
er career hereafter. What shall we pre-
fer to such conception of the here
after? Paganism or agnosticism? Fire
or ice? Thus studied the gospel of the
Christ appears to be the highest state
ments of religious truth that are possible
to be made. They may be enlarged, car
ried to greater lengths in particular di-
rections, but they never can be surpassed.
They are ultimate truths in the lines in
which they carry human thought. Thus
it appears that the authority of Jesus to
guide and instruct, to inspire and uplift,
rests, in the first place, ON the high pre-
rogative Of truth. His gospel is true,
and by the truth he leads the world. The
only effective denial of this must first
prove itself by denying that the highest
and the hottest things are the truest.
This gospel appears the best for the
world, and therefore we affirm that it is the
truest, and Jesus is the Christ and the
leader of the world and the redeemer
of men.
~. In the second place, the authority
of Jesus appears in the life that he led.
He taught humility, charity and utter
unselfshness, and these he lived. His
most eloquent sermons are the deeds of
kindness that adorn his life; and the
principle of fidelity to conscience, and
the most implicit obedience to the voice
of duty is accented in the highest degree
by the tragedy of the Cross. His life was
the dawning of an immortal hope for
mankind, and his death fifty crowns and
consummates that life. And the more it
is studied the more attractive and power
full it appears. 1t is at once the guaran-
tee of victory in the moral warfare in
which we are engaged, and the challenge
to upbuild ourselves in the same glorious
character. 1t is said that an eminent
statesman of the last century once said
to Voltaire who was Boosting that he
could found a new religion: "PoohI
that is easy enough. Get yourself cruel
fed, and in three days rise from the dead.
Then the people viii believe you" But in
higher sense thss sis,the life OF. Jesus
attracts and blesses. In the perfect I'M
selfishness of his career, and in his broad
sympathies with the weak and the sinful,
in his deep and abiding faith in the eter-
nal goodness, and in his submission to
the workings of the Fathers will, he fur
nishes ample demonstration of the divine
character of his authority to lead the
world. Brethren OF the Universalist min
istry: This church of ours is sometimes
called Christless church because we do
not hold to the Christ of the creeds. We
can eloquently argue that our critics are
mistaken. But the convincing demon
stration of the reality of our experience
as disciples of the Master will appear,
not in the number of times his name is
heard on our lips, but in the evidence our
lives present, that his spirit dwells in our
hearts.